The

New Zealand national cricket team The New Zealand national cricket team represents New Zealand in men's international cricket. Nicknamed the Black Caps (), they played their first Test cricket, Test in 1930 against England cricket team, England in Christchurch, becoming the f ...

's tour of Sri Lanka in 1992–93 was the second

Test cricket Test cricket is a Forms of cricket, format of the sport of cricket, considered the game’s most prestigious and traditional form. Often referred to as the "ultimate test" of a cricketer's skill, endurance, and temperament, it is a format of i ...

series played in Sri Lanka since the previous New Zealand tour of the country had been cut short following the Colombo central bus station bombing in 1987. The tour was almost called off before it had started following a suicide bomb attack which saw the assassination of Vice-Admiral Clancy Fernando and three other naval officers by Tamil separatists. The assassination took place only 50 metres from the team's hotel in

Colombo Colombo, ( ; , ; , ), is the executive and judicial capital and largest city of Sri Lanka by population. The Colombo metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of 5.6 million, and 752,993 within the municipal limits. It is the ...

and led to several players returning home.The New Zealanders in Zimbabwe and Sri Lanka, 1992–93
''

Wisden Cricketers' Almanack ''Wisden Cricketers' Almanack'', or simply ''Wisden'', colloquially the Bible of Cricket, is a cricket reference book published annually in the United Kingdom. The description "Bible of cricket" (or variations thereof) has been applied to ''Wi ...

'', 1994. Retrieved 2022-07-27. The tour took place in November and December 1992. New Zealand had toured Zimbabwe immediately before flying to Sri Lanka to play three Test matches and three

One Day International One Day International (ODI) is a format of cricket, played between two teams with international status, in which each team faces a fixed number of fifty overs, with the game lasting up to 7 hours. The World Cup, generally held every four yea ...

s (ODIs), a series of matches which ''

Wisden ''Wisden Cricketers' Almanack'', or simply ''Wisden'', colloquially the Bible of Cricket, is a cricket reference book published annually in the United Kingdom. The description "Bible of cricket" (or variations thereof) has been applied to ''Wi ...

'' described as being intended as "a confidence-boosting exercise to develop some of New Zealand's emerging players". Following the suicide bombing one Test match was cancelled and a number of replacement players joined the tour party. Sri Lanka won the Test series 1–0, with one match drawn, and the ODI series 2–0, with the first ODI ending without a result following heavy rain.

Tour party

A fifteen-man squad had been announced on 4 September for both the tour of Zimbabwe and the subsequent tour of Sri Lanka, with the side's established

wicket-keeper In cricket, the wicket-keeper is the Cricket player, player on the fielding (cricket), fielding side who stands behind the wicket, ready to stop Delivery (cricket), deliveries that pass the batsman, and take a Caught, catch, Stumped, stump the ...

Ian Smith Ian Douglas Smith (8 April 191920 November 2007) was a Rhodesian politician, farmer, and fighter pilot who served as Prime Minister of Rhodesia (known as Southern Rhodesia until October 1964 and now known as Zimbabwe) from 1964 to 1979. He w ...

having retired following the

1992 Cricket World Cup The 1992 Cricket World Cup (known as the Benson & Hedges World Cup 1992 for sponsorship reasons) was the fifth Cricket World Cup, the premier One Day International cricket tournament for men's national teams, organised by the International Cric ...

. Before the tour of Zimbabwe began two players,

Chris Cairns Christopher Lance Cairns (born 13 June 1970) is a former New Zealand cricketer and former ODI captain, who played for the New Zealand cricket team as an all-rounder. Cairns finished his Test career with a batting average of 33.53 and a bowling ...

and Danny Morrison, were replaced due to injuries, with

Simon Doull Simon Blair Doull (born 6 August 1969) is a New Zealand radio personality, commentator and former international cricketer. He was a right-arm medium pacer, who was capable of swing bowling. He was plagued by injuries as a result of which his int ...

and Mark Haslam called into the side. Doull was injured during the tour of Zimbabwe and was replaced by

Chris Pringle Christopher Pringle (born 26 January 1968) is a New Zealand former cricketer. A medium-fast bowler, he played 14 Tests and 64 One Day Internationals (ODI) for New Zealand between 1990 and 1995. He represented Auckland in the State Champions ...

for the Sri Lankan leg of the tour. The side was captained by

Martin Crowe Martin David Crowe (22 September 1962 – 3 March 2016) was a New Zealand cricketer, Test and ODI captain as well as a commentator. He played for the New Zealand national cricket team between 1982 and 1995, and is regarded as one of the count ...

, with Andrew Jones as vice-captain. The tour manager was Leif Dearsley.Test Cricket Tours – New Zealand to Zimbabwe & Sri Lanka 1992–93
Test Cricket Tours (archived June 2020). Retrieved 2022-07-30. The tour party was initially made up of: Following the bombing in Colombo, which occurred close to the New Zealand team's hotel, the team considered abandoning the tour. A vote initially split the players and Peter McDermott, the chairman of the New Zealand Cricket Board, flew to the country to negotiate with them.Lee A (1992) England tour in doubt, ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British Newspaper#Daily, daily Newspaper#National, national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its modern name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its si ...

'', 17 November 1992, p. 40.
Available online
at The Times Digital Archive . Retrieved 2022-07-29.) ''Wisden'' reported that McDermott was concerned about compensation that would need to be paid to the Sri Lankan Cricket Board if the tour was cancelled and was under pressure from the New Zealand government which wasiaming to improve trade-relations with Sri Lanka. He convinced enough players to continue the tour, although Crowe was critical of the decision and considered that he had been directed to continue as captain against his wishes.N Zealand opt to continue tour, ''

'', 19 November 1992, p. 46.
Available online
at The Times Digital Archive . Retrieved 2022-07-29.)Crowe says he was ordered to carry on, ''

'', 20 November 1992, p. 44.
Available online
at The Times Digital Archive . Retrieved 2022-07-29.) Five players, Greatbatch, Larsen, Latham, Patel and Watson, chose to leave the tour and return to New Zealand, as did the team coach

Warren Lees Warren Kenneth Lees (born 19 March 1952) is a New Zealand cricketer and coach. He played 21 Test matches and 31 One Day Internationals (ODIs) between 1976 and 1983 as a wicket-keeper batsman. He was coach of the New Zealand national cricket ...

. They were replaced by Grant Bradburn, Michael Owens,

Justin Vaughan Justin Thomas Caldwell Vaughan (born 30 August 1967) is a New Zealand cricket administrator and former cricketer who played six Test matches and 18 One Day Internationals between 1992 and 1997. He is a doctor of medicine by profession. Life ...

and veteran batsman John Wright, who had previously made himself unavailable for the tour. Crowe took over as the main coach for the team. Owens and Vaughan were the only uncapped players on the tour; both made their international debut in the first Test match. Sri Lanka were captained by

Arjuna Ranatunga Deshamanya Arjuna Ranatunga (; ; born 1 December 1963), is a Sri Lankan politician and former cricketer, who was the 1996 Cricket World Cup winning captain for Sri Lanka, and scored the winning boundary in the final. He is regarded as the pion ...

throughout the tour.

Tour itinerary

The tour was originally scheduled to include three Test matches, with matches due to be played at

Kandy Kandy (, ; , ) is a major city located in the Central Province, Sri Lanka, Central Province of Sri Lanka. It was the last capital of the Sinhalese monarchy from 1469 to 1818, under the Kingdom of Kandy. The city is situated in the midst of ...

from 21 to 26 November,

Moratuwa Moratuwa () is a large municipality on the southwestern coast of Sri Lanka, near Dehiwala-Mount Lavinia. It is situated on the Galle–Colombo (Galle road) main highway, south of the centre of Colombo. Moratuwa is surrounded on three sides ...

from 5 to 10 December and at

from 12 to 17 December. Following the suicide bombing in Colombo this was reduced to two Tests, with no match played at Kandy and the dates of the other matches on the tour changed. A three-day warm up match which was scheduled to start on 17 November, the day after the bombing, was cancelled and replaced by two one-day matches against a Sri Lankan Cricket Board XI.New Zealand in Sri Lanka in 1992/93
CricketArchive . Retrieved 2022-07-30. The New Zealand team flew from Zimbabwe to Singapore before transferring to Sri Lanka.

Test series

The revised two-match Test series was won 1–0 by Sri Lanka, with the first Test drawn.

First Test

Second Test

One Day International series

Sri Lanka won the series 2-0 with one match ending as no-result.

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:New Zealand cricket team in Sri Lanka in 1992-93 1992 in New Zealand cricket 1992 in Sri Lankan cricket 1992-93 International cricket competitions from 1991–92 to 1994 Sri Lankan cricket seasons from 1972–73 to 1999–2000